Traffic-signal device



vllili 2'1', 1925.

M. L. 'M'ARTUS TRAFFIC SIGNAL DEVIGEA Filed March 1/-1 1923 Lszin" 2 Sheets-Sheet l BY www/174 ATTORNEY July 21, 1925.

AM. l.. MARTUS TRAFFIC SIGNAL DEVICE 1923 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed March 14 :n A k www IZ .3 650i A TTORNEY Asignal apparatus.

Patented July- 2-1, 1925.

UNITED STATES f 1,546,5oi

MARTIN L. MARTUS, 0F WOODB'URY, CONNECTICUT.

TRAFFIC-SIGNAL DEVICE.

Application'l led March 14, 1923. Serial No. 624,913.

To all whom it may concern.' l Be it known that I, MARTIN L. MARTUS, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of Woodbury, county of Litchfield, and State of Connecticut, have invented certain new and .useful Improvements in .Traiic- Signal Devices, of which the following is' a specification. i

This invention relates to traiic signals, and more particularly to a portable traiiic signal apparatus adapted to lbe illuminated by a battery-operated electric lamp. i

One object of the invention is to provide a traiiic signal apparatus having a hollow base adapted to contain'one or more electric bat-l teries. f `A further object is to provide a traiiic signal apparatus which may bel easily trans ported from place to place, and also having ,.Ineans to prevent said apparatus from being accidentallymoved out of position.

A further object is to provide a device of the abovex nature which will be simple., cheap to manufacture, very eiicient and du' rable in use, and requiringVvery little atten tion for upkeep.

With these and other objectsf in view.,v there have been illustrated on the' accom'- panying drawings several forms in which the invention may be conveniently embodied in practice. v

Fig. 1 is a perspective view of one form of trafc signal apparatusembodying the principles of the invention. I l

Fig. 2 is a sectional'viewof the'` apparatus shown in Fig. 1.

y Fig. 3 is an enlarged sectional view, partly broken away, of thestationary and movable contact elements, tubular standard. Fig. 4 is an enlarged fragmentary see tional ,view of the locking caster showing how said caster is mounted 'upon the base of the apparatus.

'Fig 5 is an enlarged .sectionallview of the top casing of thev apparatus shown in Figs. 1 and 2.

Fig. 6 is a sectional view of amodified form of traic signal apparatus, operating on the one-wire system, certain-parts being broken away for clear,n'ess. Fig 7 is a perspective view of the top portion of another modified form of'traiiic and the support for (the Fig. 8 1s a' perspective view of a still further modified form of tratiic signal apparatus in vwhich the base is f proper position.

made square, instead of round 1n cross-sectlon.

Referring now to the drawings in which like reference numerals denote corresponding parts Vthroughout the several views, the

first illustrated embodiment of the invention shown in Figs. 1 'to 5 comprises a hollow cylindrical base section 10 preferably Y sald elongated axle 14 form pivot bearingsfor the legs 16, 16'- of a bifurcated locking member 17, which `has an upwardly extending rod 18 terminating at its top in a handle v19. The rod 18 is adapted to be detachably held in vertical position, adjacent/the side of the cylindrical basesection 10, by means of a resilient clip 20 secured to said base section in any'des'ired manner as by a rivet 21. The locking member 17 is provided with lugs 22, 22 arranged at an angle to the legs '16, 16, and extending beyond the periphery vof the caster wheel 23, and adapted, when therod 18 is in vertical position, to raise the caster wheel 23 oif the ground. When in this position, the lugs 22 act as a brake or drag to keep the signal apparatus in its The lugs 22, 22 are so constructed, however, that when the rod 18 vis disengaged from 'its clip 20, and lowered to an approximately horizontal position, the wheel 23 will be lowered into Contact with the ground, whereupon the apparatus may be readily rolled away on the wheels of its three supporting casters 11, 12, and 13. In order to permit access to the interior of the cylindrical base section 10, said section is provided on one portion of its cir- `eumferen'ce with a hinged door 24 having a handle 2 5. The base section is provided with a horizontal circular top face 26 upon which a dome 27 is attached preferably by bolts and' nutstasrshown in- Figs. 1 and 2. The dome 27 has anupwardlyiiared tubular section 28 open at its top throu hwhich' is' a apted to to the casing in any suitable manner, as by `rivetsor screws 43. The lamp 33 1s` adapted supply current from batteries 32, 32'to an incandescent lam 33 located in a signal casing 34. The caslng 34 which is preferably in the shape of a rectangular box, is rigidly secured to the top of the standard 29 in any suitable manner, as by a collar member 35 attached to ahorizontal partition. 36 di-V .viding said casing into an upper lamp compartment 37, and a lower compartment 38. The lower compartment '38 1s. open at its bottom, and has suitable indicia markedon its alternate outer surfaces, such as Stop and Go, The sides of the upper or lamp compartment 37 are provided alternatelyl with red and green lenses 39 and 40 corresponding .with the alternate Stop and.

Go signs respectively, located below them.

The top of the signal casing 34 is closed by aventilating cap 41 having a vertlcal `outer edgef'provided with a series of equally 'spacedventilation openings 42 and attached to be detachably held in an .insulating tube 33a threaded into a Screw socket 34a rigidly mounted in 'the top of the tubular standard engage. in aseriesfof recesses'43VJ spaced vat ninety degree intervals on the-stationary dome 27, wherebtyfthe signals will be held in their-properistop andv go positions.

The batteries -32 and 32,- which are;.adapted to rest'upon a' supporting block 48' 'of wood or otherinsulating material,'fare connected together. by affshort conducting wire 49 and are controlled by a switch '50 having a pair of operating push-buttons 51 connected to the battery 32 .by fa. Wire 52. As clearly shown in Fig; 2,`the,`sw itch 50 is l o cated on .fthe outside ofy the cylindrical base i 10, whereby it may be vconveniently manipulated by-a traliic olicer. or any other person desiring to'turn thelampl 3 3. on or off. The batt-eriesf32 andl 32a are preferably of the so-called primary type (such as Zingsncopper-oxide-caustlc soda), but lit is within the scope of the invention v'to employsecondary' (or storage) batteries, `or 'any Zot r vsource of battery energy.

In order to permit the signal casing vto bel rotated either successively in one direction or back'and forth in both directions, the following mechanism has beenv provided.

constructed lof any suitable insulating matei rial, and a stationary contact member secured in a'central aperture`56 in the` top face 26 by means'of bolts and nuts, which are' adapted to pass vthrough a depressed yiange s57. The lower-part of the tubular standard 29 is rigidly secured, as by screwsl 58 and 59, to flanges on the upper and lower contact members `j53"and 54 respectively, as mostfclearly shown in Fig. 3.v A pairof metallic conducting rin-gs 60 and 61 are "rigidly secured to the bottom surface of the upper contactmember 53, and the top surface of the lower contact member 54, respectively, as rby countersunk screws 62, 62. A pair of .similar metallic riligs 63, 64 are secured to the top and bottom faces of the l stationary contact member'55, as by screws 65, 65, thering 60 being adapted to rotatvably engage the ring 63 while lthe ring 61 rotatably engages the ring64.- l

The conductlng wire 30 is bent laterally 'at its lower end, and passes through a downwardly inclined passage 65 in the member 53, its-lower terminal -being tightly ittedl otherwise electrically connected therewith.. The 'lower end of the vother conducting wire 31 'is` bent laterally, passes through an upwardly extending passage 66, and is tightly fitted .within asocket in the metallic ring 61,-

-within a socket in the metallic ring 60, --or orotherwise electricallyconnected therewith.

The upper stationary' ring 63 is electrically .connected tov the switch 5 0 vbya wire`67 hav-.f

ing its `upper terminal tightly'tted in a socket in said ring', andv passing through an aperture 684 in the face-26.

A senies of metallic springrchpsfGSF and l 68b are secured to the top and'bottom'rotary contact members and overlap the edges of the rotary and stationary rings as shown ini'Fig. 3.- Thisjconstruction insures'a good electrical' connection between the rings' 60 and63, 65 and 61, respectively, at'all times.

represented by a single battery 32, has one The source-of current, which in Fig. 3, is

Qterminal, in this instance the positive, con- This mechanism consists of a pair of uppery and lower rotary contact members 53 and l5'4 nected to the wire-,52jleading tothe switch,

as vpreviously described. The other ter- `minal, in this instance the negative, is connected to a wire 69 leading upto .thelower stationary ring 64', theupper terminal of said wire b eingtightly fitted in a socket in said ring.

In the operation of the form ofthe inventionillustrated in Figs. 1 to 5, when-it is `desired to illuminate the colored lenses in the signalfcasing 34, it will only be necessary for the-operator to close the battery circuit by pushing,'in the properlbutton 51 ofthe switch ,50. The current will then ow through the wire y52, switch 50, wire 67,

stationary contact vvring 63, movable contact vrlngy 60, wire 30, lamp 33, wire 31, movable ring 61, stationary ring 64, and

wire 69 back to the battery. The signal casing may be rotated by grasping the handle 44 and pushingit to the'right or left, as may be desired. During this operation, owing tothe rotary engagement of the contact rings 60, 63, 61, 64, the flow of current through the circuit will not be interrupted.

In the modified form of apparatus shown in Fig.l 6, which is adapted to operate on the one-wire system, a single insulated wire 70 is located within a tubular metallic standard 71, the standard itself acting as a ground to complete the electrical circuit. Provision is made of a lamp 72 having a central base contact connected to the wire 70 and a screw shell `73 threaded intofa metallic plug 74 which in turn is threaded into the top of the tubular standard 71. The lower end of the wire 70 is tightly fitted in a socket in the metallic ste ped cone member 75, the latter being ad pted to rotate in electrical contact with the cup-- shaped annular stationary contact 76. The lower end of the tubularstandard 71 is provided with .a liange 77 resting upon an annular insulating disk 78. oThe flange 77 is secured to the liat top face of the cone member 757by means of screw bolts 79, said screw bolts being formed ofl insulating material and passing through alined a ertures in the flange 77, and the disk 78, sald screw bolts being adapted to seat in sockets in said cone member 7 5,- as clearly shown in Fig. 6.

The cup-shaped stationary contact 76 is secured, as by bolts 80, to the insulating support 81, which is seated in the to face of the cylindrical base 10, as in thev rst illustrated embodiment of the invention.

The stationary contact 76 is connected by a wire 82 passin downA through an aperture 83 to one terminal of a battery 84. The other terminal of said battery is connected by a wire 85 to a switch, not shown, from which the current liows `through the wire 86 and a'binding screw 87 to a vertical metallic strip 88, said strip being attached to an u standing support 89 by4 means of said bin ing screw`87 and a screw 90. The upper part of the strip 88 -is provided with a resilient brush section 91 adapted to make r, a good electrical connection with the rotating liange 77 of the tubular standard 71. The operation of the' one-wire` form ofapparatus shown in Fig. 6 is similar to that of the rst illustrated embodiment shown in Figs. 145.

Fig. 7 illustrates amodiied form of single device which may be employed instead of While there have been disclosed in this I specification several forms in which the invention may be embodied, it is to be understood that these forms are shown for the purpose of illustration only, and that the invention is not to be limited to the specific disclosures, but may be modied and embodied in various other forms without 'departing from its spirit. In short, the invention includes all the modifications and embodiments coming within the scope of the following claims.

Having thus fully described the invention, what is claimed as new, and for which it is desired to secure Letters Patent,is:

1. In a portable trallic signal apparatus, I

supporting means adapting said apparatus to be readily moved about from place to place, a hollow casing mounted on said sup porting means, a hollow standard, means mounting said standard for rotation upon said casing, an electrically operated tralic signal member carried by said standard, a battery located in said' casing, a pair of ver-v tically spaced stationary contact rings mounted in said casing, a pair of vertically spaced movable contact rings carried by said standard and engaging said stationary rings, means for connecting said stationary rings to said battery, means for connectingsaid movable rings to said4 signal member,

and manually-operated means `for rotating said standard to indicate to passing traino when to stop and when to g0.

2. In a portable trafiic signal apparatus, supporting means adaptmg said apparatus to be readily moved about from place o place, a hollow casing mounted on said suii porting means, a standard, means mounting said standard for rotation upon said casing, an electrically operated traic signal member carried by said standard, a battery located in said casing, means for'electrically connecting said battery tol said signal memb`er, and manually operated means for rotating said standard to indicate to passing trailic when to stop and when to go. In testimony whereof, I have aixed my signature to this specification.

the single casing shown 1n Figs. 1 and 2.

In this form, the words"Stop and Go MARTIN L. MARTUS. 

